Friday, 4 September 2015

Critical time for Religious Studies, Stirling

Administrators are trying to shut down the entire Religious Studies department at Stirling University.

This is significant for a number of reasons.

First, the religious studies department at Stirling is of particular import due to its emphasis on Critical Religion theories. In fact, Timothy Fitzgerald, one of the professors affected, is a prominent voice in that field. Critical Religion theories are important because they challenge the very colonialist basis upon which the study of "religion" is based.

The second reason is related to the first: Precisely because Critical Religion studies are a vitally needed, the shutting down of the entire department is an act of censorship that would damage not only the entire field of religious studies but also broader struggles against white supremacy and colonial domination.

Third, this is significant because this type of sudden and arbitrary laying off of workers despite high student attendance— is exactly the type of business practice that we are all affected by and need to stick together to fight it. Despite a balanced budget and a healthy number of students, the administration offered four professors redundancy packages and plans to lay off the rest of the instructors. This type of brutal cutthroat practices cannot be accepted.